There is a little girl at my school who is physically challenged. She was given this little wooden bench so that she can stretch out her legs and use it as a desk to do her work. The bench was brown and her teacher last year tried to help make it more colorful by letting the little girl draw on it with markers. She drew little stick figures with sad faces. Talk about pulling my heartstrings! I decided that this bench needed a facelift before this school year started.

First, I painted the entire bench white.

I really wish I had thought to take a real before photo. It was so sad looking!

Next, I stenciled some polka dots and stamped some circles on it to add interest.

Finally, I added some bold flowers on the top and sides and gave it a clear coat of poly.

I can't wait until she sees it tomorrow night at Open House. I really hope it brightens her day!

I have seen these all over Pinterest and had to try it. I "believe" the original idea came from this Etsy store.

First, I hot glued some crayons to the top of my canvas. I used two boxes of 24 Crayola crayons on the top a 12" X 12" X 2" canvas. I set the canvas on top of some newspaper and leaned it against the wall.

I then used a heat gun to melt the crayons and use them as "paint" as demonstrated in the following video.

Well, I have spent over 13 hours over the past two days trying to get my classroom up and ready. We have meetings both tomorrow and Monday, Open House Monday evening, and students come on Tuesday. Needless to say, I am in full panic mode, but I do not regret going to Jamaica in the least!

We all have them; ugly areas in our classrooms. I have a few suggestions for some creatively camouflaging them.

Problem: Ugly, but necessary file cabinets.

Solution: Buy a roll of colorful gift wrap.

Laminate a strip to fit the side of the file cabinet.

Add some magnets to hang schedules, lunch menus, etc. Enjoy the view!

Problem: Not enough display areas for artwork.

Solution: Wrap some boxes with rolled paper to make display cubes.

Side note: see that little plastic ring from the used up tape roll? Save that guy and use him for stamping in to clay. It makes great owl eyes!

Once you have a bunch of cubes, use them to elevate artwork or use as a backdrop.

I spent last week in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and loved every minute of it. We spent our time on a private resort, but that didn't keep us from seeing some gorgeous Jamaican artwork.

Wherever a tree had died on the site, they had an artist carve the trunk and turn it into a fantastic scuplture, as seen above and in the following photos:

One day, on the beach, I saw this wonderful turtle in the sand. Turns out a young teenage girl had made it. Wonderful!

On the last night, the resort brought in local artists so that we could view and purchase their work. I had a few nice conversations with some artists and bought some work. Supposedly, they gave me an artist's discount, but who knows!

I would rather bring home art than another t-shirt, so I bought three carvings, a boomerang, and one acrylic painting.

Just to tease you, this was our view from our room. Can't wait to go back!

Does anyone else actually look forward to unpacking all of their supply orders?

Look at all that paper fun! Imagine the possibilities.

Beads, and buttons, and gems- Oh, My!

Such pretty yarn to use in weaving and to hang our clay owls.

I must give some props to Dick Blick (Blick Art Supply) Company:

These chalk pastels are wonderful! They are soft, but not TOO soft. They remind me of the more expensive set that I cherished as a young artist. I always wanted my students to have those more expensive sets, but... well, you know- budget, budget, budget. Finally, a pastel set that doesn't cost and arm & leg, but is NICE.

Last year, I ordered several bisque tiles from Dick Blick and more than 3/4 came in chipped or broken. Bummer! They replaced them, without charge, but it was a delay I hadn't planned on. However, this year, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the tiles came packaged VERY carefully, as seen below. Not one (out of 100) were broken, chipped, or cracked. Bravo!